  |
|||
|
|
|
||
|
Posted by Gerda Wever-Rabehl Jun 5, 2006 |
Sex is in the air. Saturday's Globe and Mail reports for example, that Jerry Hall has embraced the flaccid penis. As the new ambassador of limp and unwilling manliness, she is working to stiffen the already towering profits of an erectile dysfunction drug. The sexuality of mature women is also receiving ample attention- just a couple weeks ago, the Globe and Mail featured a section on the sexuality of "mature women" and just as recently, the book "Sex and the Seasoned Woman: Pursuing the Passionate Life" by Gail Sheehy came out (published by Random House). In between the lifeless penises and older women, there's plenty attention for other aspects of sex and desire. The CBC for example, featured sexuality and seduction in one of the documentaries in a series called War of the Sexes. And just last night, CBC's Passionate Eye featured Middlesex, a documentary about the wide diversity in the expression of gender and sexuality.
I have been following this plethora of research on and interest in desire and sexuality rather closely. After all, anthropologists have some sort of reputation for being fearless inspectors of sexual practices around the world. And who am I to spoil that (probably false and rather self-proclaimed) reputation? So, given the fact that sex appears to be in the air, together with the fact that I really should keep the aforementioned reputation erect, I decided to do a four-part series on sexuality and desire.
In the first two articles in this series, we will look at conceptions of desire and sexuality as they emerge from Indian mythology. We will do so by focusing on the Gitagovinda, a poem about the passionate love affair between Radha and Krishna. It is the truly magnificent tale of desire, sexuality and the joys and pains of a passionate but secret and adulterous love affair. In the first article, we will look at the way in which their passion is portrayed as natural, carnal and spiritual all at the same time. In the second article, we will explore more closely the extramarital, secret and adulterous aspects of desire as they emerge from the love between Radha and Krishna.
For more about sexuality in a historical context, read Kerry Kublius'
Gerda Wever-Rabehl, The Write Room
www.thewriteroom.net